5 Things Star Trek Into Darkness Could Mean

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Set phasers to "idle speculation" as we contemplate the new title of the Star Trek sequel.

By Scott Collura

J.J. Abrams runs a tight ship, particularly when that ship is the USS Enterprise, which means that details regarding his upcoming Star Trek 2 have been hard to come by. But still, not even Abrams can keep the warp-core lid on his secrets forever, and so it was that the title for the film was leaked this weekend: Star Trek Into Darkness.

Interestingly, with this title the film will abandon the numbered sequel route that the Trek series had typically adhered to (Abrams' original reboot notwithstanding) as well as the "colon route." Yep, that's not a misprint above: The film is called "Star Trek Into Darkness" -- no colon. The punctuation fanboys are enraged!

But what does "Into Darkness" mean? The secrets of Trek 2 remain safely ensconced in the transporter buffers at Abrams HQ, but that's not going to stop us from speculating… or dropping more geeky Trek metaphors. Energize!

5

The Eugenics Wars

Darkness? You want to talk darkness? How about a war on Earth that takes over 30 million lives and almost lands humanity back in the Dark Ages? Is that "Into Darkness" enough for you?

The Eugenics Wars, of course, was the global conflict in the 1990s (in Star Trek time that is) that saw genetically engineered supermen like Khan Noonien Singh rise to power and almost -- just almost -- take over the world. These tyrants were overthrown eventually, with only Khan and a band of followers escaping to space and cryosleep -- and his inevitable conflict with Captain Kirk centuries later.

With Benedict Cumberbatch rumored to be playing Khan in the new film, it seems that the Eugenics Wars could at least be a possibility for where the film gets its title. Though if it does feature that iconic character, it seems unlikely that Kirk and crew would actually travel back in time to the actual war. Would a mere expository mention of the Wars merit this name, or could it be that the darkness of that time period is somehow carrying over into Kirk's era?

4

Le Morte d'Vulcan

Spoilers! Mr. Spock's beloved (actually, not-so-beloved since he's not supposed to feel emotion… only he does actually feel emotion, so… stifled-beloved?) home planet of Vulcan was destroyed in 2009's Star Trek. Which, you know, is pretty, pretty dark as movie events go. Presumably billions of Vulcans died when the planet was, essentially, sucked into a black hole in that film (into darkness, you might say…). With only 10,000 or so Vulcans surviving this apocalypse, Spock even says that his race is now an endangered species.

This plot point in Abrams' film was such a huge change in Star Trek lore -- and it also affects the Spock character so deeply (both of them!) -- that it's tough to think that it won't be touched upon in some manner in the new film. Perhaps the death of his world and people drives Spock in an entirely different direction than the Leonard Nimoy version of the character, with the Enterprise first officer taking a darker turn in order to protect what's left of his race and culture? Again, this is all speculation, but there's no denying that if Cumberbatch isn't playing Khan he could make for a great Vulcan…

3

The Forehead Foes

The fearsome Klingons almost made it into Abrams previous' Star Trek film before they wound up on the cutting room floor, but it seems to be a guarantee that they're going to show up in some capacity in the new movie. Perhaps the best known race in Trek aside from Vulcans (and duh, humans), the bumpy-headed aliens were usually villains during Captain Kirk's era, and also capable of some pretty troubling activities before they got turned into ice cream with Worf and The Next Generation. (The first time we ever met them, in the classic episode "Errand of Mercy," was almost immediately after arriving on a defenseless planet where they start executing hundreds of civilians.)

As Starfleet and the Federation head out into space, guys like Kirk and Spock put on their bright and shiny shirts and power up their 23rd century iPhone-esque equipment. And they seemingly expect everyone out in space to do the same. But what happens when you meet a savage, warrior race that kills first, cuts your heads off later, and then asks questions?

2

The Final Frontier

Don't forget, the previous film was designed largely as a reboot of the franchise, reintroducing Kirk and Spock and the rest of the characters, not to mention the entire concept of the Star Trek world, to a largely new, modern and mainstream audience. As such, it didn't feature much of the exploring of strange new worlds or seeking out of new life and new civilizations that is inherent in the Star Trek mission statement.

Hopefully, "Into Darkness" implies that the Enterprise will be doing some actual exploring now that all that nasty Nero business is done with from the last film. Kirk is now captain of the ship, her crew is in place, and it's time to check out that thing they call the final frontier… and what's darker than the cold silence and mystery of deep space? And hell, it's not like they could've called this movie The Final Frontier.

1

The Marketing Magic

Trek Movie reports that the title Star Trek Into Darkness was test-marketed over the summer along with several other titles, including at least one that didn't use the words "Star Trek" at all. This should come as no surprise; of course the title of a tentpole picture like Star Trek 2 is not left solely to the creative types.

Star Trek doesn't do the big business in international markets that other high-priced Hollywood films might, and so the name and marketing of the film becomes particularly important in this regard. What does "Into Darkness" mean? Who freaking knows. Yes, there's a Dark Knight thing going on here, and the film's writers themselves have often compared their approach to Chris Nolan's rebooted Batman film series. But it sounds like the title is also in keeping with the trend to make everything "serious, gritty and real" these days. Is that actually the case here, and if so, is it a good thing for Star Trek? We'll find out when Star Trek Into Darkness hits in May.